Fastener for loose covers for fruit baskets and the like



April 3, 1934. F, v. McNIVEN 1,953,624

FASTENER FOR LOOSE COVERS FOR FRUIT BASKETS AND THE LIKE Filed Aug. 11,1932 Patented Apr. 3, 1934 OFFIE FASTENER FOR LOOSE COVERS FOR FRUITBASKETS AND THE LIKE Florence Victoria. McNivcn, Toronto, Ontario,Canada Application August 11, 1932, Serial No. 628,393

1 Claim.

My invention relates to improvements in fasteners for loose covers forfruit baskets and the like, and the object of the invention is to devisea simple, cheap device whereby basket covers such as are used in fruitbaskets may be quickly and easily secured in position without injury tothe fruit or other contents of the basket, and it consists essentiallyof the arrangement and construction of parts as hereinafter moreparticularly explained.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a fruit basket showing my fastenersapplied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary detail showing a portion of the upperedge of a fruit basket body and a portion of the fruit basket coverapplied thereto and my fastener for connecting the parts together.

Fig. 3 is a perspective detail of the fastener.

Fig. 4 illustrates an alternative construction of fastener showing itapplied to a bushel hamper.

In the drawing like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts ineach figure.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3.

1 indicates the body of an ordinary fruit basket provided with the usualupper edge band 2 and slatted cover 3. The cover is loosely held uponthe top of the basket and is usually secured by some form of cleat whichis hammered into engagement with the cover and basket and, therefore,tends to injure the fruit or other contents of the basket.

In order to avoid this I have devised the following form of fastener.

4 is an angular member formed of resilient wire, the arms M and M ofwhich extend respectively against the outer face of the basket body andthe top face of the cover. Where the slatted cover is used such asillustrated in Fig. l, the hook member 5 formed at the extremity of thearm 4 extends between the slats, the inturned end 6 of the hook,extending beneath the slat and its extremity which is upturned in aslightly angular direction as indicated at 7, engages the lower face ofthe slat so that when the arm M is forced resiliently from angulartowards a vertical position the end '7 is forced into biting engagementwith the lower face of the slat and as the arms M are brought to saidvertical position the hooked end 8 thereof is carried beneath the edgeband 2 so that when the arm 4 is released and it resiliently springsback towards its normal position, the angularly turned extremity 8 ofthe hook is carried between the edge band 2 and the wall of the basketthereby securing the parts together.

In order to release the fastener, all it is necessary to do is to forcethe arm M from the position shown in Fig. 2 towards a vertical positionin which position the up-turned end 8 of the hook is carried beneath theband so as to clear the same and allow of the arm 4 being drawn outwardout of engagement and the whole fastener lifted so as to release thehook 5 from the slat of the cover.

In a bushel hamper where the slats extend at right angles ortransversely of the basket instead of longitudinally as in the form ofbasket shown in Fig. 1, I employ a modified form of fastener. In thisform the arm l of the fastener is downturned as indicated at 9 so as toextend over the upper edge of the bottom band of the cover. The portion9 is then turned upward as indicated at 9 in an inclined direction, theextremity of the portion 9 being up-turned at 9 so as to engage thelower face of the slat. The other arm of the fastener corresponding tothe arm M of Figs. 1 and 2 is similarly constructed to the fastenerillustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 but engages the upper edge ring of thebasket.

From this description it will be seen that I have devised a very simpleform. of fastener which may be readily and quickly placed in position tofasten the basket cover securely, and which may be placed and secured insuch position without any hammering or other action which would tend toinjure the fruit or other contents of the basket, and which may beapplied or removed without damage to the cover or container forinspection purposes, at the same time providing a device which will belight and neat in appearance, which takes the least possible time toapply or remove, which is not liable to become loose or spring out ofengagement, and which has no sharp points liable to injure the handswhen applying the same to a basket or other container.

What I claim as my invention is:

A fastener formed from a single wire for loose fruit. basket coverscomprising a wire portion extending transversely of the cover,extensions extending from each end of such wire portion at an anglethereto, and fingers formed integral with such extensions and engaged bythe torsion of the transverse portion respectively with the exterior ofthe basket body and the inner face of the cover.

FLORENCE VICTORIA MCNIVEN.

